Sepia Saturday: Before Bridezilla Roamed

Somehow I managed to have bridal showers, a bridal
luncheon, and a beautiful traditional church wedding and reception without the
aid of gift registries, The Knot or “Say Yes to the Dress.” I didn’t interview a host of caterers, photographers,
florists, or bakeries. Bachelorette
parties were unheard of. No one that I knew ever had their make-up done
professionally. We certainly didn’t go
for a mani-pedi, let alone a spa day. I
bought one Bride magazine and never tried on a single wedding dress.

That was 1973. It
was a given that my mother would make my wedding gown. After all, she made everything else from
school clothes to doll clothes, to slipcovers and drapes. By 1973, Momma was a seasoned wedding gown
seamstress, having crafted two gowns already.

The 1960s gown

Miss McFarling's pattern sold for 75 cents in 1966
but can be found in Etsy shops, on eBay
and in vintage pattern shops
priced between $7 and $55.

Her maiden voyage into the world of bridal gowns was in
1966. I don’t recall the circumstances that
led my friends and me to spend an afternoon with our Latin teacher, but Miss
McFarling was chatting excitedly about her plans for her upcoming wedding. When she mentioned that she was looking for
someone to sew her wedding dress, I volunteered my mother. Really, I thought it was no big deal to make a
wedding gown – just a dress with a longer length, right? I doubt Momma was THRILLED with my teacher’s
request, but she put on a good show. My
sister remembers Miss McFarling coming to the house in the evening for fittings,
but I don’t. All I recall is that I had
to grade all of Momma’s spelling tests, reading quizzes, and grammar exercises. That was either our trade or my punishment,
not sure which.

Martha McFarling Athey
Wedding announcement Virginian-Pilot 1966

The dress itself was very simple and very 1960’s. The A-line gown was made from white peau de
soie with long, tight sleeves that ended in a point over the bride’s
hands. At the wrist were covered buttons
and loops. The train was attached at the
shoulders and contained the only adornment – lace medallions sewn
randomly.

Void of any frou-frou, this wedding dress was dramatic in
its simplicity (certainly worth an A in Latin).

The 1970s gowns

In 1971 Momma made the wedding gown for the daughter of
Momma’s high school buddy and life-long friend.
Unfortunately I have no pictures to share or stories to tell, so let’s
move on to dress #3 -- MINE.

View #4 looks like my sleeve pattern.

My gown had that typical 70’s granny dress look:empire waist, ruffled hem, and full sleeves
with wide cuff. Believe it or not, it was
inspired by a picture in Bride magazine.(See, they even thought it was a good look!)Momma did her best to replicate it, but that
required pulling together parts from various patterns and then creating her own
pattern for the train, which really was more of a sweep than full-fledged train.

This looks like the ruffle and overall shape
of my dress.

Finding different kinds of lace was not easy either.We bought from every fabric store in the Tidewater area and even from a shop in Staunton, not far from Harrisonburg where I was in college.

The wide lace was an eye-catcher. We used it on the sleeves and then from the shoulders to the hem. The narrow piece was used down the center, at the empire waist, and for the neck. I admit to making that veil.It looks
hideous now, but the Juliet cap and Anne Boleyn crown were considered quite “mo-derne”
in 1973.

Becky, Moi, Ruth, my sister Mary Jollette

However, I did a better job on
the bridesmaids’ headpieces.I covered a
buckram head band with green voile and lace left over from their dresses (Momma
made two of the dresses).To be sassy, I
made a fabric bow for the side.Mmm –
yeah – Sassy alright!

The 1980s gown

Fast forward ten years to 1983. My sister Mary Jollette
too had found her dream dress in a magazine.
Fortunately, patterns and lace were more readily available. In fact, the lace matches the inspiration
perfectly. The train on her gown was inspired
by Princess Diana’s train, but not nearly as long.

While the train was important, the big hat
defined the 80s. Mary Jollette had fallen in love with a bridal hat in the
magazine. Our metropolitan area, despite
its many bridal shops and specialty dress shops, didn’t have it. Surprisingly, she found the hat in the bridal
shop in Harrisonburg. Momma had
requested that Mary Jollette not marry during the school year. But Mary Jollette and Cam wanted to avoid the heat of summer, so April was the date. There were still papers to grade, and I had
two babies to care for, so I was no help on that end this time.

Is that orange juice on the sewing machine?
I guess Momma needed all the fortification
she could get to finish that dress.

That’s probably why the dress was never
really finished. Even though Momma spent
her lunch hours at school sewing pearls and sequins onto the lace medallions, a
pile of lace never made it onto the dress.
Surely a disappointment for my sister, but the dress didn’t suffer.

Please indulge me as I take one last look back at 1973 with "the going away outfit."

55 comments:

LOLOLOLOLOL! Love that last picture!! Too funny! I remember thinking you all looked so COOL and SO together. Yes, groovy is the word. Better than Grease being the word.

I feel bad when I look at that picture of Momma working like crazy on my dress. I guess she got the last laugh because it was 92 degrees on our wedding day in April HA! I still love my dress and train and don't be jealous, but I still fit in...my HAT! ;-)

Our dresses are a lot better looking than those strapless dresses that today's brides love.

Yeah, I've made light of my dress because it is anything but classic, but it was beautiful for its time and I remember getting lots of compliments (of course, what can people say??). I'm jealous you can still fit in your hat. LOL

My grandmother made my mother's wedding dress and all the bridesmaids' dresses, her younger daughter's wedding dress and the bridesmaids' dresses and the two weddings were only five months apart and various items were still rationed in 1953 in England.

Unfortunately her sewing skills have not been passed down through the family.

Hey, Wendy ... you guys were groovy! You Mom had talent and did beautiful work. The gowns are gorgeous.

My Grandma J. made my dress, just as I wanted it. My "going away" outfit was a satin top and satin drawstring pants (what????) ... it was in 1978. I wore a hat for my veil, and designed it myself. I wanted my bridesmaids to have parasols, but my future MIL forbid it. I knew then that I was always going to be in trouble with that woman, lol.

Oh Wendy! This was priceless! Your "Myles Standish" joke got me seriously laughing out loud. When my youngest son came in the room he wanted to know why the laughter, so I shared your photo and joke. You're a hoot!

Oh, and your sister's wedding dress looks eerily like my own from 1984 with the big puff elbow length sleeves. I didn't have a hat though. Ya, we were groovy in our own 80's way.

Your mother was a talented seamstress. I really liked the look of your teacher's dress - classic style for the time. Your mom did a great job with the other dresses too. I'm impressed - it was quite a task to take make three wedding dresses in your lifetime, especially while she was working a full time job.

Thanks for sharing the going away picture at the end - like Jana commented earlier, I also LOL about your joke and my family came running to see what was up! Great post!

Wendy, one great story. Such an industrious Momma, so handy with needle thread, lace and more. A really great read, it made me smile and I absolutely admired the wedding dresses and that bow tie and the white shoes!

I loved your post and all the illustrations and photographs. Your wedding experience was very reminscent of my own (married 1971). My mother, a trained dressmaker, made my dress too - though it had shades of the 1960's style rather than the 1970's. My Ann Boleyn headdress was all the rage with TV and films focussing on the Tudor period. Thank You for sharing your memories.

That first paragraph had me. I could have written it. Only I made my dress. Not fancy, but definitely 70s style. And I had a floppy hat. 1975. And that last picture reminded me of my wedding too. I used to say we had the misfortune of getting married during one of the ugliest fashion decades. Your mom must have been a gem. Loved your post! (kathy at abbieandeveline.com)

Great photos and memories and we share the same wedding year. Isobel made her own wedding dress as well and I still have the bill somewhere for the wedding reception for sixty people (with wine and a sit-down menu) which came to £130!

Oh wow. That 70s suit your husband is wearing is...oh wow! I remember going to weddings with guys wearing all sorts of suits in bright colors. And really wide lapels with piping on them. The 70s had to have had some of the ugliest clothes of any decade thanks to the eventual disco influence.

I've certainly had a good laugh here and you had to end this post with the bane of the fashion industry: Polyester!!! Argh!! I loathed that fabric... I must say, your sister's bridal hat wasn't bad at all, for the era. I never got married, but I'm sure glad some of my looks have gone into oblivion for lacks of pictures, except in the back on my mind!!!:D~ HUGZ

I'm late to the party but just had to say how much I loved this post. I was married in 1974 and had the same cap/crown as you had - it must have been pretty uncomfortable because in almost every picture I look like I'm struggling to keep it on. I felt so horrible at the time for my parents since they forked out $125 for the gown....but that included the veil. Yikes, my daughter's in 2004 was about 10 times that!

And I must have been ahead of the times because my bridesmaids wore the big hat that was popular in the 80's!

Loved this post - and someday I might get brave and post the photo of my husband and me all decked out in 70's fashion leaving for our honeymoon.

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net